The white coloration in domestic pigeons is due to different genetic
factors. The genealogy of the parents, phenotypes of siblings, or
offspring can be a help to enlighten the genetic background.
Dominant white have as adults orange red or pearl eyes (e.g.
Pomeranian Eye Crested Highfliers) and usually a dominant red base
color. With a black color covered by the white they often show
darker beaks and black flecks.

Fig. 208: Pomeranian
Eye-Crestedt Highfliers from the book `Pigeon Genetics`

Recessive whites can unexpectedly fall from parents with almost
every coloration. They breed under themselves purely, and my be
classified by their dark eyes. The recessive white young shown
together with two siblings was raised by self parents

Albinos can also fall from all colors, but different to recessive
white have red eyes. Shown are Birmingham Rollers raised also from
self parents.

White or almost white young in strains, in which the genetic factor
'Stipple St' is present, often are heterozygous stipples (or
sprenkles in other terminology) even when they are near to white
still as adults. In tumbler breeds they mostly are pearl eyed. That
is shown in the Pomeranian Eye Crested Highfliers raised from a
Spread Ash cock and his black sprenkle hen.

In the mating of two Almonds or Stipple with each other also pure
Stipple or Almond-cocks are raised. They are different and usually
are handicapped by eye and movement disturbances. That holds for
the young from two Danish Brown Stipple Tumblers at the right. Shown
is a heterozygous Brown Stipple cock, a homozygous St-cock (the
whitish one in the middle), a hemizygous St-hen, and finally a
homozygous St-cock raised from a heterozygous Stipple cock and a
hemizygous Stipple hen.

Whitish-gray are also some youngsters from the mating of isabels or
light blues white bars with each other, if they survive the first
days at all. The trait in homozygous state is lethal. Shown is a
heterozygous Spread Dominant Opal cock and a homozygous Dominant
Opal cock, one of the few that reached the adult stage, but he did
not produce a young.

Also some reduced pigeons like the young hen with German Modena
background look like monochrome white in the first time, until one
recognizes in the second week at the cheeks, that they will not
remain white.

The combination of factors such as reduced, dominant opal, indigo,
etc. also produces light silver gray colorations, which become even
lighter when they are not raised on a black but dominant red ground
color. For the almost white young at the last photo one may
speculate what it is.

Immediately recognizable from the parent's coloration it is not.

Literature and Photos:

Photos from 'Pigeon Genetics' and 'Genetik der Taubenrassen', with
exception of dominant opal and albino all pigeons were raised in the
author's loft.